The Cavalcade of America, sponsored by DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry, presents one of Hollywood's favorite leading men, George Murphy, as Terrence O'Toole, MP, U.S. Army. Many of DuPont's better things for better living are required 100% in the war effort. However, some products are still available for us on the home front. One of these better things is Speed Easy, the remarkable new wall finish that covers dingy wallpaper with one quick coat. It thins with water and dries in an hour. Speed Easy comes in eight beautiful pastel tints, one gallon does the average room. Try DuPont's Speed Easy to brighten up your home. Tonight, Cavalcade presents the popular picture star, George Murphy, as Terrence O'Toole, MP, a play about a branch of the armed forces that the public is most aware of but knows the least about. The military police, or in GI language, the MPs, the blanket soldiers, so-called because of the armbands they wear. These are the men seen on the streets, in railroad stations, on trains, or wherever military forces gather. They maintain order and discipline, keep military traffic moving, and check on personnel. But theirs is a far vaster job than most persons suspect. DuPont presents the story of the blanket soldiers written by Milton Wayne and starring George Murphy as Terrence O'Toole, MP, on the Cavalcade of America. Me, I'm Corporal Terrence O'Toole in the Corps of Military Police, the United States Army. You can spot me quick by the blue band in my arm with the white letters MP. A blanket, they call it, in the GI dictionary, and the guy wearing it is a blanket soldier. And that ain't meant for a compliment, take my word for it. So now you've got me pegged. I'm sitting in the train with my friend Capa. We're passing through Jersey, and he's told me all about how he spent his furlough. So for a time, I'm just sitting there, taking in the scenery, and then... Terry, what are you worrying about? Well, I'll tell you Capa, I've got something on my mind. Yeah? Now you being a guy that went to college and that, maybe you can straighten me out. I'll do my best, fire away. Well, nowadays everybody talks about building up morale, you know what I mean? Something wrong with your morale, Terry? Well, search me, I never give it a thought. But my Aunt Bridget's morale, that's the big responsibility I got. When did all this happen? Just these couple of days while I was home, but I should have seen it long before. What's wrong with your Aunt? I don't know, these days Capa, she's a very lonely old lady. Nobody escapes the war these days, even women and children. Sure, sure I know, but I told you how it is with me and Aunt Bridget. You know, she raised me on the money she made working in a department store. She put me through high school. I felt kind of good when I got that job in the steel mill and started paying rent. I guess I got to be a big part of her life. Well, the day I enlisted, she didn't cry or nothing, she just went off to church. Well, a lot of things got straightened out last night, Capa, when the two of us got to talking. And that blue band with the white letters you have around your arm, Terry, what do those letters MP stand for? Military police, Aunt Bridget. Glory be military police. There's been a policeman in the O'Toole family ever since your grandfather. Sure, sure I know it, but it's not going to be very exciting to fight the war by having to look after the other lads on trains and in the railroad stations. Oh, if you do your job and do it well, whatever it may be, Terry, I'll always be proud of you. Even if it's only direct and traffic and garden buildings and prisoners, I'll never come back with a medal for that kind of business, Andy. Just come back the way you are. If being an MP is the job the army wants you to do. But nobody asked my opinion. Maybe I'm just being a foolish old woman. Oh, for shame, and you're the brightest and fairest of all the O'Toole's. Oh, I'm serious, Terrence. I won't be worrying so much about you now. Not even the company I keep? I'll be coming out with a college education, you know. Now you're just... No, I'm not, I mean it. Oh, this ain't like the last war when lots of the MPs were goons and bully boys, you know, all beef and no brains. Oh, now they train us for five months in a special camp. Say, guys who used to be teachers and lawyers, they're in my outfit. Well, your friend Kappa sounds like a fine man. Oh, he is a fine man. His real name is Henry Lessing. His real name? Well, yeah, you see, we just call him Kappa because when he went to college, he was called what they call a Phi Beta Kappa. They gave him a key. To the college? Well, no, it's just a little bit of a key. I don't think it would open anything very much, but he's a very smart lad anyhow. You know, he says you write wonderful letters, Auntie. Here now, here. What's the matter, sweetheart? Well, we've never been apart, Terrence. And your letters... Now, couldn't you tell me a little more about the things you're studying? The work you're doing, the men you're with. Sure, darling, sure I could and I will, I promise. And no more worrying about me, do you understand? I'll write you everything just like I'm sitting here now and telling you. Oh, thank you, Terrence. And bless you. Well, Kappa, that's what I made her believe. I couldn't see her worry and now I don't feel right about it inside. Why, Terry? Well, I didn't lie to her. I never lied in my life to Aunt Bridget. But it's the things you did until it bothered you, eh? Yeah, that's it. Like the fact that you want to be sent overseas and maybe really use some of those guns they've been teaching us to handle? Well, that part of it might never happen, so why should I say anything about it? But what I mean is, I left her thinking that an MP was the sweetest racket in the whole army. Most people think so anyway. Yeah, I guess so. Well, we'll be through training in a week or so. If they put me on a job that's going to be worrying Aunt Bridget to death, I've got to tell her, naturally, but in a way that won't hurt. Now, that wouldn't be lying, would it, Kappa? No, Terry, that wouldn't be lying. Dear Aunt Bridget, two weeks after we got back to camp, we finished our training and now we're on a boat. I can't tell you what boat or where we're going to, but you can be sure for us blanket soldiers, it'll still be traffic to control and prisoners to guard. Plenty of them, I hope. I'll see another piece or two of this world, Princess, and all expenses paid. So don't you get to worrying too much about me, McCushler, because I'll know it if you do. MP Company report immediately to officers mess hall B deck. MP Company report immediately to officers mess hall B deck. And then men, we shall proceed from England. Our ultimate objective will be North Africa. This MP Company has already had extensive instruction in gunnery, tactics, landmine detection, gas control, and taking care of yourselves generally. Now your training really begins. Dear Aunt Bridget, almost all our spare time on this boat, we're studying or going to lectures. Most of the lectures are about the country we're going to be in, about the people and their customs, their language, etc. In a little while, the major is going to give us a talk on geography, which I should think would be very interesting. Knowledge of terrain and use of its features, that will often be the deciding factor when we reach North Africa. Now observe this sketch of Hill 480, the main enemy defense overlooking the oil fields on Cape Halma. Approaching from the rear, you will note the hill is cut by nephiles in narrow paths. The next letter I write you, McCouchele, I'll be getting over my sea legs on good solid land. Tonight they're going to tell us just what jobs we're going to do when we get there sometime tomorrow. And the day after, the sun will be shining down on your nephew Terrence, and I'll bet you anything you can name, he'll be standing somewhere directing traffic. And now the cases. This MP company has been divided into four groups, each commanded by an officer. This is the plan of operation for D-Day. At H-hour plus 30, the first group is to enter the town of Halma, immediately head for the center of civilian government and take over. The second group will be fire protection for the first. The third group will be held in reserve on the beach. The first group will be in the water, the second group will be fire protection for the first. The third group will be held in reserve on the beach. The fourth group is to cut over to Cape Halma in support of the company. Okay, you guys, pipe down, pipe down. Fourth group, all present, O2? All present, Sarge. Okay. The lieutenant wants you to go over the high spots one more time. Now the H-hour is 0300. That gives us just about 40 minutes. There's no moon or stars and we go without lights. Now let's make this snappy answer in rotation. Kalinsky, you start. How many barges do we use? Four. Captain's boating the lead. What's our mission? Combat. Combat? You get that, you beef and blanket soldiers? What's our objective? We hit... when we hit the beach, we cut over to the Cape in support of a company from the 7th Infantry. We're to wipe out enemy batteries, round up prisoners, protect oil tanks and refineries. Okay, repeat. When we hit the beach, we cut over to the Cape in support of a company. It sure taken us a long time to get there. Take it easy, guy. Take it easy. Suppose you had to walk. Nuts, I'd call me a cab. Capper, what do you think? I don't know, Terry. It shouldn't be much farther to the beach according to the maps. Hey, you guys, listen to this. What? I just heard the Navy guy telling our Louis. He thinks maybe they got a wrong azimuth reading. The blind leading the blind. Destroyer dead ahead. Destroyer dead ahead. Down, everybody. They're going to search, guys. Down, guys, you guys. Down. He's telling us. Head of the Lieutenant's been hit. Sergeant. Sergeant. Yes, sir. Take over. All two, take my post. Right, Sarge? Down. He's a coward. We're sinking. Sarge, we're sinking. Trail out with your helpers. No use, Sarge. A virgin boat. Release the lifeboat triggers. Abandon the boat. Come on, over there. I guess we're enough for where? Tread water, Cappy. Yeah, still shooting. Yeah, like ducks in a shooting gallery. Sergeant. Hey, Sarge. Who's that? It's me, O2. Can you see me? Here, I'm waving my hand. Yeah, I see you now. Here, here, grab hold. Okay, and Tool? Where'd they get you? I'm bleeding bad. You guys better keep moving. Here, stretch out. Good flow. We'll tow you. You're crazy. Okay, men. From now on, you're taking orders from me. Follow me, everybody. We're heading for the beach right now. We'll make it. Take it easy on this beach. How much time before day light? Too soon. Too soon. Pete, how's the sergeant? He's out cold. I'll take him up on the beach before it's dry. Here, I'll give you a hand. I can make it. I'll get him up there. Anybody got any idea where we are? So long as it's land, what's the difference? Newmark, you hurt? Those rocks. It's my arm. My fingers won't close. Look. Watch out! Right through the sand. Beach is mine. Landmine. Hold it. Stay where you are, everybody. Pete must have stepped right into it. Wait. Wait. Now I tell you. For what? Wait for what? Listen, now this is for all of us. We're in on something here, and the first signs don't look so good. If the beach is mine, it means they're expecting us. Maybe they heard that mine go off, and maybe they didn't. So what? What about Pete and the sergeant? Those mines go off when you step on them, and they go off to kill. There's only six of us now. We've come too far to die so cheap. You said it. It'll be getting light soon. Day'll come fast. I'm going up on the beach. Well, not you, Terry. We need those maps the sergeant was carrying. We need those cans of K-ration. Well, you're running the show now. I was just talking big before. The sergeant said for you to take over. I'll get the maps, Terry. Well, I'm not asking you, Cap'n. Got any suggestions, Terry? Okay, kid. Find Pete's tracks. You'll have to go on hands and knees and feel for him. When you find him, stay in him. Backtrack the same way. Crawl right down past the water line. I'll be waiting. I understand. Be careful. Good luck. The rest of you, back into the water. Swim single file along the shore till you hit where those woods hit the water. Wait there. Here he comes now. Come on, Chapa. Over here. Okay, Chapa, kid, okay. Let me have this stuff. Yeah. Where are the rest? They're waiting. Let's go. That sun will come up soon, like the Bronx Express. You are listening to George Murphy as Terrence O'Toole, MP. The story of America's blanket soldiers, better known as the military police, on the cavalcade of America's... As our play continues, O'Toole and a half dozen other MPs have just been forced to swim ashore from their landing barge destroyed by Nazi gunfire. They are huddled in the dark on an African beach checking their salvaged weapons and food so that they can complete the mission assigned to them. What's the score, Rieger? Oh, our best was a foul. We got four grenades, three bayonets, a compass, a couple of knives, and a handful of rocks. Chapa, got us placed on the map yet? I think so. Here, take a look. We're between the town and the Cape here, but nearer the Cape. What about that road right above us? It runs from Helm to the Cape, branches out just before. Lower Fork leads to the oil fields, the upper Fork leads to Hill 480. Oh, yeah. That's where the enemy batteries are placed. Listen, men. Listen. Huh? Oh, boy, oh, boy. Well, that's them, fellas. Six supermen in a jeep. What do you think of them? If they're supermen, I'm Superman. OK, now listen. I've got an idea. Those men are on patrol. They're going to be here in a minute. I'll go and get them. I'll go and get them. I've got an idea. Those men are on patrol. That they go up and down on this road between the Cape and the town. We're going to lay quiet in these woods and watch. We'll clock them every time they go past. Capper. Yeah? Open up some K-Rash and some elite. Right. I kind of got a hunch how we're going to use those cherries and that jeep. Well, what do you think? Can we do it? Well, I say, yeah, let's do it only one thing or two. Suppose our guys don't try the landing again tonight. Well, that was part of the plan they told us. Yeah, two days ago. If they haven't changed their minds. Well, there's nobody to sign any guarantee. From here on, we've got to make up our own minds. It's fish or cut bait. Well, put me down for years. I'm going to have to get my hands on the fish or cut bait. Well, put me down for years. Newmark? What good will I be? I should have stepped on a mine, too. Cut that out. A musician with one arm. I say yes. That jeep job's for me. I'll take it. O'Toole, I want it like that. Sure, kid. I'm only thinking, can you do it? Well, I've still got my right hand. I can drive it with one hand. Okay, Newmark. How long we got? An hour and a half till dark. Another hour for that patrol car to pass to the Cape. When they pass here on the way back, it'll be us or them. But my plan will work. I know it will. Okay, boys, until they come, the time is all yours. All right, men, it's time that jeep was coming back. Get up close to the road. Wish that moon would stay behind those clouds. Five of you have bayonets and knives. Kalinsky, you've got the grenades. Yeah. Listen, here it comes. Now don't get excited. Remember, we need that jeep. All right. I see my marker. I'll start the count when the front wheel's passing. You said, Kalinsky, that piece of branch I put in the road? I'll lay a grenade right on it. Good boy, you're the right second. Remember, we need that jeep. Hey, here it comes. Count one, two, three, four, five, six, go. Yeah. Come on. Come on. Get into those honey blouses and helmets quick. Fast now, men. Newmark, get that jeep out of the road. Boy, did we strike it. A small arsenal in the car. Tommie guns, rifles, and grenades. Pass them around. Getting close to the Matsey barracks, Torey. Breaker. Slow down. I got you. There's the command post, the building just below. Get ready to jump. I got the three grenades planted back here. A little slower. Newmark, can you make it? Slide over to the steering wheel. Hold it till he's set, Breaker. Then get out on the running board. OK, pal. All right. I've got it. So long, fella. Sweet dreams. All right, boys. Jump. They didn't see us. Newmark's making right for the barracks. Goodbye, Newmark. He's holding the road all right. Just a little more, Newmark. Just a little more. He made it. Wait. Now, come on. Come on. Come on. Down this side. They're setting up a machine gun in the road. Do your stuff, Kalinsky. We're about to be start shooting. Come on. Come on. Where's Blount? He was hit. What time? Hey, ain't much, but there's still four of us. Our guys will know there's something stirring here. That fire's a beaut. Come on. If our men come, they'll land on the Cape. We're going to make our way through the woods to escape any jerry patrols and be there to help them. If they come. All right, you guys. Take it easy now. Ready? Single file and follow me. Easy. Here we are. Keep down. There's the water, Terry. Yeah. And our guys are not coming. Hey, what time is it? 3 AM. This cliff commands the water approach. Easy. Wait a minute. Look. There's a Nazi dugout. And artillery. Wait a minute. Hold it. Something's stirring in there. Maybe they see something out there that we don't. There. That light. It's blinking. A star? No. It's from our boats. They're coming in. We've got to mop up that dugout. Let's have those grenades. All right. Oh, set, Terry. Let's give our boys some real light to land by, huh? You ready? Heave. Force. Toss them another one. All right. Yeah. I got him. Come on. Let's get out of here quick. Hey, Terry. Terry, are you hit? Is he hit? Yeah. Yeah, I'm hit. My side. Take it easy. No, I got you. Give me a knife, somebody. So I can cut this cloth away. Is it bad? Oh, yeah. Thank you. And there. Easy, Terry, easy now. Riker, give me some soap and powder quick. Huh? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, here. He's passed out. You look at his side. We've got to get him down to the beach. So we can have a doctor as soon as I've found his land. The doctor will save him. Yeah, the doctor will save him. I hope. Dear Aunt Bridgie, I'm writing this letter from somewhere overseas. I got a little wet when we landed, and we ran into a little trouble there. But our boys straightened it all out fine. Incidentally, the socks you knitted me weren't hurt a bit by the water at all. I was knocked around a little and got a scratch or two. But after resting up, I'm back in business again. Most of my business these days is in a little town that looks like it's always early Sunday morning. And you know what I'm doing here? What? Whistle. Whistle. Whistle. All right, all right. Take it easy, Gil Hooley. Think you're going to a war? Don't tell me you MPs know there's a war going on up there. Oh, think of that now. Yes, we know about it. Yeah, somebody's been telling Military Secret Center you MPs would never know about it way back here. Get going, Gil Hooley. Is that an order, Corporal O'Toole? That's an order, Gil Hooley. And here's something you didn't know. It's not corporal anymore. You see those stripes? It's Sergeant Terrence O'Toole, MP. Now get going. You're holding up the war. Thank you, George Murphy. DuPont is privileged tonight to have been able to tell the real story of the Army MPs, how they work and live, and above all, how they fight. Mr. Murphy will return in a few moments. Meanwhile, here is Gain Whitman speaking for DuPont with some good news about food. Recently, the War Production Board released seven million additional cases of canned baby foods, milk, prunes, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and apple products to the public. These seven million extra cases of food came to you in part because of the development of rapid, efficient methods of electroplating tin, the result of combined research by the steel, electrical, and chemical industries. The old method of tin-plating food cans was to hot-dip the steel from which they were made. But in the hot-dip method, every unit of steel plate took about a pound and a half of tin. Now the Japs have most of the tin mines, so the problem was to find improved ways to plate the steel with only a fraction of the tin formerly used. And because of American resourcefulness and chemical know-how, it's being done. The new tin plate is rolling off production lines at the rate of 500 to 1,000 feet a minute. Here's a description of one steel mill's production line. It's 400 feet long. A steel ribbon more than three feet wide glides into one end. It runs through an alkaline tank that cleans it. It plunges through an acid to remove any foreign matter, such as oxide or rust. It gets sprayed with water and runs on through 12 cells of the plating bath. In the plating bath, an electrical system that can supply 120,000 amperes of current carries molecules of pure tin to the bright moving steel. Then the ribbon doubles over on itself so that the plated undersurface becomes the top and gets plated on the other side. Cleaned again and dried, it races down into high-frequency induction coils that melt the tin coating instantaneously and give it a bright finish. Strips of finished tin plate come off the line in coils five miles long, weighing 25,000 pounds. They roll off at a rate of five to 10 miles an hour, many times faster than the old way. These tin electroplating processes are regulated to use as little as a third of the tin the old hot dip method used. Here is a development serving a vital wartime need that offers many possibilities for the peacetime future. For instance, steel plated on one side with one metal and on the other side with another. The halogen tin process and the alkaline stanate process for strip plating are developments of DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. And here is George Murphy, star of this evening's DuPont Capital. Applause Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. It has been my privilege to portray a young man from one of the most interesting and important branches of our armed forces. I hope that by listening to this story, many of you have had the work and the duties of the military police clarified in your minds. That they are second to none in combat has, I think, been clearly demonstrated. More power to the Army's Corps of Military Police and thank you very much. Music DuPont urges you to listen next week to The Doctor Shoots a Cannon, starring Preston Foster, Otto Krueger, and Gene Lockhart. It is the story of the Navy's victory against the dread danger of flash burn. The searing wave of dry heat from exploding projectiles that caused a third of the casualties in the Coral Sea and the Solomons. Flash burn, unimaginable heat of 2,000 degrees, robbed of its potency by a little group of American naval doctors, working with volunteer waves and sailors and experimenting with hundreds of formulas before they found the answer. Music Next Monday evening on Cavalcade, DuPont will present Preston Foster, Otto Krueger, and Gene Lockhart in The Doctor Shoots a Cannon, a play that will hearten and encourage every American who has a son, a brother, a husband in uniform. For it tells for the first time on the air the story of another great achievement by medical science for the protection of America's men who face the enemy. Cavalcade is pleased to remind its audience that George Murphy may now be seen in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mare production, Broadway Rhythm. The musical score this evening was composed and conducted by Robert Armbruster. This is James Bannon sending best wishes from Cavalcade sponsor, the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. Applause This is the National Broadcasting Company. Music
